I rewatched Stand By Me the classic coming of age film by director Rob Reiner, based on a Stephen King novella ” The Body”. I was so moved once again by this film I had to write about it.

The story concerns four friends living in a small town of about 1200 people. One hot summer a teenage boy, Roy Brower disappears. It seems the rumour is he was struck by a train and is out by the Royal River. The four boys decide to set out to find the body and become famous or at least heroes in the process.

The story this film is based on, The Body, can be found in a collection of Stephen King stories called Different Seasons published in 1982. The collection also includes a story title Shawshank Redemption which later became an award winning film The Shawshank Redemption.

Their world is one of relative innocence, but their journey to find the body, their encounter with Ace Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland), the local bad boy and his gang, and finding Brower’s dead body put an end to that innocence. In the end the boys find out about reality and how it isn’t glamorous.

The line that best sums up the entire movie is typed on the computer screen by The Writer (Richard Dreyfuss) at the end of the movie,

“I never had friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus does anyone?”

The four friends are played by Wil Wheaton (Gordie Lachance), River Phoenix (Chris Chambers), Corey Feldman (Teddy Duchamp), and Jerry O’Connell (Vern Tessio). Gordie Lachance is the writer. The story begins with the death of his friend Chris Chambers on the headline of a newspaper. He then takes us back to tell the story of their adventure that one summer so many years ago.

This movie makes you laugh one moment and cry the next. Most of all it makes you think back to your own childhood and the friends you had and the adventures they shared with you.

A warning this movie does contain bad language including the F-word, but it is too good not to let your young son or daughter watch it with you. Made in 1986 it stands the test of time very well. Definitely a movie to rent, or even better to own.